A suspected kidnapper, identified as Felix a.k.a OBJ, was on Sunday, April 30, 2023, neutralised by operatives of Delta State Police Command, while three other gang members sustained severe gun injuries in a gun duel.
The gunfire exchange occurred at about 1pm.
The three injured suspects were identified as Stephen Precious, aged 19; Godstime Sunday, 28 years old; and Apene Prince, also aged 28.
The command’s spokesman, DSP Bright Edafe, who confirmed this in a statement on Tuesday, May 2, that the encounter with the suspects came up following reports of kidnapping and armed robbery operations in Ughelli, Warri and environs.
The report, the PPRO said, led the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of operations, Johnson Adenola, to mandate all Divisional Police Officers in the command to gather intelligence in order to ensure putting a halt to the ugly trend.
“In compliance with this directive, on 30/04/2023 at about 1300hrs, acting on information received via intelligence gathered on an armed robbery gang that snatched one AK-47 rifle from a police officer and also allegedly kidnapped and murdered one Godspower Emmanuel after collecting N400,000 ransom, were sited at an hotel in Agbarho, the Divisional Police Officer, Ovwian Aladja division, CSP Aliyu Shaba, mobilized and led detectives to the area in search of them.
“While the search was ongoing, the suspects sighted the policemen from their hiding and opened fire, to which the police equally responded. During the gun duel, one Felix a.k.a “OBJ” was shot and later confirmed dead at the hospital, while three other suspects namely Stephen Precious ‘m’ 19yrs old, Godstime Sunday ‘m’ 28yrs old, and Apene Prince ‘m’ 28yrs old, were arrested with various degrees of bullet injuries.
“One AK-47 rifle with breech number 19617, 18 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition, one English double barrel gun, 11 Android phones, two button phones, one long knife, one suspected stolen white colour GLK Mercedes Benz with registration number YAB 733 BK, two bottles of codeine and two wraps of weed suspected to be Indian hemp were recovered,” Edafe explained.
He added that investigation was ongoing.
